Anucia,
I have been to Mariupol in the dead of winter and it was cold. Cold enough that most of my clothes were sweaters and turtle necks besides my winter coat. When we did get snow, it usualy melted the next day or so, but plan on taking warm clothes, not shorts or a bikini

I only really know Kyiv in winter and boy does it get cold. I was there on the coldest day on record in 1994 and all the brass monkeys were locked up!!!
The air glitters with the moisture in your breath, it's a truly breath taking experience. However, you get used to it very quickly and as long as you've got your thermals on, the weather isn't too much of an encumbrance.

One of the most beautiful sights in the world is looking over city centre Kyiv when the sun is up, there's not a cloud in the sky and everything cover in frost and snow. It brings a lump to my throat remembering.

Thank you for that mental picture. I can just picture how beautiful it would look. Fortunately, I am a person who loves the cold. I am a Fall and Winter girl. I hope one day to see this view you described.

Until the bars got toilets, Ukraine was an absolute nightmare.
Try to imagine going to the toilet in the street when the temperature in -25! It's tough for a man, but for a woman! oi! Sometimes my bottoms goes numb just at the thought of it.

If you visit Kyiv now you will not have the pleasure of experiencing it, which is a shame really, because you would have always had something to talk to an English person about.

How cold? your pee is frozen before you've tucked yourself in

When it's this cold walking around Hidro Park is an experience not to be missed